Summary of the Story

It is 1947, and Bandits father has sent for Bandit and her mother to join
him in New York City. All her life, Bandit has lived with her many relatives in
the clans compound in Chungking, China. Although she is sad to leave them,
she is also excited about going to America. At the New Years celebration,
Bandit chooses her new American name: Shirley Temple Wong. When Shirley
and her mother arrive in New York, Shirleys father proudly takes them to
their new home, a tiny Brooklyn apartment. Shirleys difficulties with English
and her foreign mannerisms tend to alienate her from her classmates. She is
saved from her loneliness when she befriends Mabel, the scariest girl in the
fifth grade. Mabel includes Shirley in a stickball game and christens her Jackie
Robinson. Shirley spends her summer devotedly listening to Brooklyn
Dodgers games on the radio.
As the new school year approaches, Shirley has a disturbing dream that
suggests she is drifting away from her family in China. She and her parents are
so busy with their new lives that they forget to celebrate the Mid-Autumn
Festival. Several days after the fact, they eat moon cakes and recall a
traditional story about the joys and pains of leaving home.
Shirleys first year in America ends memorably when Jackie Robinson
visits her school. As she beams with pride and happiness at the great man
who made a difference . . ., who changed what has been, she rejoices in her
new life, and realizes that she, too, can be someone who makes a difference.